Launch woes turn iPhone Parousia into activation apocalypse

The iPhone 3G launched today in the US and across Europe. Unfortunately, …

Although the enthusiasm about waiting in line for an iPhone for days at a time was dampened a bit this time around thanks to worldwide launches outside the US, buzz was still renewed by this morning among Apple fans. Lines had formed at Apple and AT&T stores across the country, despite last year's revelation that there was plenty of stock to go around and no line-waiting was needed. A number of Ars staffers, as well as loyal readers and friends, partook in iPhone Day "celebrations" in order to get a feel for the reception of the iPhone's second incarnation. Unfortunately, the second coming of the iPhone has turned into something akin to an activation Armageddon.

By the time we showed up at the AT&T store on State Street at 6 AM, the line was about 18 people long, and was over 70 before doors opened at 8 AM. An AT&T representative at the front of the line said that stock was "comparable to last year's launch" at most AT&T stores that he knew of, although he couldn't speak for Apple Stores (it's safe to assume that Apple Stores had comparable stock as well, if not more than last year). This means there are probably plenty of iPhones to go around.

Line outside of Chicago's State Street AT&T store. Photo taken by Jacqui Cheng

Unfortunately, that's where Apple's and AT&T's good fortunes ended. Not long after doors opened, AT&T's systems crashed, and they could no longer perform activations in the store. This is a problem because, well, Apple and AT&T are requiring activations in the store this time around and have said repeatedly that there would be no at-home iTunes activations like there were last year. Some stores simply continued to sell unactivated iPhones to customers, telling them to simply go home and activate through iTunes (us included, as well as Ars writer David Chartier). Hmm, so activation at home is possible? Unfortunately, those of us who took our iPhones home to activate through iTunes were met with the iTunes Store being down. Since the new device is hooked up to our phone numbers, though, this means that our old phones (or at least mine) are no longer working. Hope no one's trying to call me any time soon. Good thing this is my work number. Oh wait.

Some AT&T stores, such as one in Oak Park, IL (according to Twitter user McCarron), simply turned away customers after the activation system went down. There's nothing like sending cash-flush customers home with nothing. For those at stores that didn't experience a full-on system crash, the process was still very slow. A number of readers reported to us through e-mail and Twitter that they had waited 40 minutes to two hours after doors were opened due to activation woes.

These problems aren't just limited to the US, or to Apple's partner carriers either. Ars writer Iljitsch van Beijnum is still waiting in line at a Telefónica store in Madrid, despite being physically inside the store for at least an hour and a half now. Iljitsch also pointed us to a post by iPhoneclub.nl that reports T-Mobile stores in the Netherlands are turning customers away because the activation system is down. And, according to TUAW, Apple retail stores have lost connectivity with the iTunes activation system as well.

So what, exactly, is Apple's deal today? From what we can tell, the culprit here is iTunes and not AT&T, Telefónica, or any of the other carriers. Is it because in-store activations have required thousands (if not millions) of people around the world to activate their phones at essentially the exact same time, therefore taking down the system? Or is it due to poor planning on Apple's part?

There are some signs that point to the latter, although it's most likely a combination of both. Apple finally released (officially) its iPhone 2.0 software this morning, but iPod touch 2.0 software has yet to make an appearance. We were told by an anonymous source that the software was supposed to be available through Software Update at 5am PDT, but has yet to go up due to unforeseen issues.

All we can say is that if you plan to buy an iPhone today, you'd better be prepared to wait.

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui